Interview with author Patrick LeClerc

My special guest today is novelist Patrick LeClerc. He’s chatting with me about his new historical fantasy, The Beckoning Void.

Bio:
Patrick LeClerc makes good use of his history degree by working as a paramedic for an ever-changing parade of ambulance companies in the Northern suburbs of Boston. When not writing he enjoys cooking, fencing and making witty, insightful remarks with career-limiting candor.

In the lulls between runs on the ambulance –and sometimes the lulls between employment at various ambulance companies– he writes fiction.

Please tell us about your current release.
It’s s Victorian era speculative fiction. Think Jules Verne level science fiction. Add a cult of fanatics trying to bring a great ancient evil back into the world, and assemble a band of talented misfits to try to stop them,

It has plenty of swashbuckling, witty banter, subterfuge, swordfights, boarding actions, bar brawls, and probably my favorite antagonist I’ve ever written.

There’s also quite a bit of commentary on classism, racism and sexism, given the diversity of the cats and the fact that this was an era in which a lot of the old, strict, established order was being challenged and new idea were clashing with the old. The backdrop is at the height of colonialism, the abolition of slavery, the beginning of the movement toward women’s suffrage and advances in science.

What inspired you to write this book?
I wanted to write something in an alternate Victorian setting. That’s just such a fascinating period of history, with so many technological and societal changes, I wanted to play in that pool. I also really wanted to do a found family, band of lovable misfits thing for a long time.

Excerpt from The Beckoning Void:
“Ha ha! Shabash!” shouted Alyah. “Back to the pit with you!”

Her triumph was cut short as the floor tilted beneath her, the tower shifting under her feet with a grinding of stone. The mortar joining the ancient stones started to give way and they began to slip and slither from their places like the early stages of an avalanche. The tower broke at an angle, the top third of it sliding off its base.

Alyah felt her stomach drop as the top section slipped free and dropped straight down. It struck the cobbles of the courtyard like a driven pile. She felt the impact shudder through her body, her jaw cracking shut painfully. After a second where it balanced on its new base, it toppled over with a stately grace.

She felt the tower leaning further over as it fell. She rushed to the parapet, bracing one boot against it and one on the floor, watching the ground approach as she rode the tower down, judging her moment as the speed of its fall increased.

A heartbeat before the tower’s battlements smashed onto the courtyard, she sprang off, leaping as far from the wreck as she could, tucking her body and rolling as she hit the ground. She winced at the jarring impact on her shoulder and hip, but kept her head protected from the worst of the battering. As she rolled to a stop, the dust cloud from the wreckage engulfed her.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I have a bunch of irons in the fire.

I have a significant chunk of a prequel to my space Marine story “In Every Clime and Place” I have some fragments of a third book in my Immortal; Healer series, and I do want to write more in m,y Broken Crossroads setting, and I have the stirrings of an idea for a sequels to The Beckoning Void. I love a lot of different genres of speculative fiction and I want to play in all of them.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve been writing since elementary school. Pretty much ever since I started reading. I’ve always enjoyed making up stories, and always thought about writing professionally. I started editing an online short story zine back in the late 90s with a few friends, and

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I work full time as a paramedic. I try to schedule time on my days off to write, and I do take my laptop top work and I can get a lot of work done between calls.

I don’t set word count goals on my writing days, but I do block out time. Like, I’m going to write from this hour until that hour.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I do a lot of wandering around the house. Not sure how interesting that is.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to do adventurish things. I wanted to be an explorer, or a sailor or climb mountains. My first hero was Robin Hood, because I wanted to buckle my swash and rob from the rich to give to the poor. Probably why I took up archery and fencing.

Links:
Website | Facebook | FB Reader Group

Thanks for joining me today, Patrick! Happy writing.